Sarabjit Singh dies at Pakistan's Jinnah hospital

[JSinghnz]

PTI | May 2, 2013, 01.53 AM IST

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh died in a Lahore hospitallate on Wednesday night after being comatose for six days following a brutal assault by other inmates of a high-security jail, officials said.

"I received a call from the doctor on duty (at Jinnah Hospital) at 1 am (1:30 IST) informing me that Sarabjit is no more," Mahmood Shaukat, the head of a medical board that was supervising Sarabjit's treatment, said.

Officials of the Indian high commission in Islamabad said they had been informed by officials of Jinnah Hospital about Sarabjit's death.

Shaukat said authorities were yet to decide on conducting an autopsy of Sarabjit's body.

Asked whether the autopsy would be done after getting permission from the government, he said: "At the moment I have no idea."

No decision had been made about handing over the body to Sarabjit's kin or to Indian authorities, he said.

"These matters will be worked out according to the directions from the government," he said.

Earlier in the day, official sources in Lahore had said Sarabjit had slipped into a "non-reversible" coma and this could lead to "brain death".

His measurements on the Glasgow Coma Scale, which indicates the levels of consciousness and damage to a person's central nervous system, had dropped to a "critical level", the sources said.

Sarabjit's heart was beating "but without brain function" because of the extensive head injuries he sustained when he was assaulted on Friday, a source said.

Sarabjit was completely unresponsive and unable to breathe without ventilator support.

Sarabjit, 49, sustained severe injuries, including a fractured skull, when at least six prisoners attacked him in a barrack at Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday afternoon.

He was hit on the head with bricks and had been comatose in hospital since then.

Police have booked two death row prisoners — Amer Aftab and Mudassar — for the attack. They reportedly told investigators that they had attacked Sarabjit because he had allegedly carried out bomb attacks in Lahore.

No action has been taken so far against officials of the jail for failing to provide adequate security to Sarabjit.

Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam and Swapandeep Kaur and sister Dalbir Kaur, who went to Lahore Tuesday to see him, have returned to India.

The Indian national was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990 and spent about 22 years in Pakistani prisons. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.

The previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008. Sarabjit's family says he was the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.

Following the rapid deterioration in Sarabjit's condition, New Delhi had requested that he be immediately released so that he could be treated in India or a third country. Pakistan had said it was "positively considering" the request to repatriate Sarabjit.

[WaljinderSingh]

RIP

[Pappi9]

Waheguru.....

[Singh559]

What's the truth behind his involvement?

[genie]

He was an alleged indian raw agent I have no sympathy for him. You can tell he was guilty of activities as the Indian media was focusing hard on him to get him released yet hardly no attention or investigation of professor bhullars case who is almost certainly innocent and they accuse him of all sorts. Also sarbjit had high level backing in the indian establishment from BJP and Congress party so shows maybe they knew he was possibly an Indian Intelligence operative sent on a mission to attack pakistan in 1990s for its role in supporting the Khalistan movement in India.

[proactive]

There's no proof that he was a RAW agent. The Pakistani legal system is as much a joke as the Indian one. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. The real agents get swapped secretly and their arrests and release are never revealed to the media. His death is a result of that trigger happy Indian kut.ta president Pranab Mukherjee who has been disposing of mercy petitions like there's no tomorrow. When the Indians hanged Afzal Guru and Kasab it was obviously that the Pakistanis would do something in revenge.

[JSinghnz]

There's no proof that he was a RAW agent. The Pakistani legal system is as much a joke as the Indian one. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. The real agents get swapped secretly and their arrests and release are never revealed to the media. His death is a result of that trigger happy Indian kut.ta president Pranab Mukherjee who has been disposing of mercy petitions like there's no tomorrow. When the Indians hanged Afzal Guru and Kasab it was obviously that the Pakistanis would do something in revenge.

What a revenge on a helpless prisoner. This is what these cowards Muslim terrorists are notorious for.

[Jonny101]

There's no proof that he was a RAW agent. The Pakistani legal system is as much a joke as the Indian one. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. The real agents get swapped secretly and their arrests and release are never revealed to the media. His death is a result of that trigger happy Indian kut.ta president Pranab Mukherjee who has been disposing of mercy petitions like there's no tomorrow. When the Indians hanged Afzal Guru and Kasab it was obviously that the Pakistanis would do something in revenge.

Kassab deserved to die for what he did. But Afzal Guru was an innocent man who was killed. There was no credible evidence against the man. I think you may be right on the part that the murder of Sarbjit by the Pakistanis could have been revenge for the murder of Afzal Guru. Two innocent men died for nothing.

[sabnakeerenka]

Kassab deserved to die for what he did. But Afzal Guru was an innocent man who was killed. There was no credible evidence against the man. I think you may be right on the part that the murder of Sarbjit by the Pakistanis could have been revenge for the murder of Afzal Guru. Two innocent men died for nothing.

I thought he confessed in media interviews?

[jasdeepsingh2k125]

sarabjeet was raw agent bcoz indian media says he crossed border while he was drunk,now can u tell me that we can't escape state boder that easily, but here we r talking of LOC,WHERE U KNOW THE SECURITY IS VERY TIGHT...